Eight wins, thirty-one defeats, and one small target
Seattle host Los Angeles today with a modest ambition. Win, and the Storm string together consecutive victories for only the third time this season.
That is where an 8-31 record leaves a team. Two separate 11-game losing streaks have run through this campaign, and the roster ranks among the youngest in the league. Back-to-back wins count as an event.
They arrive off one. Rookie Flau’jae Johnson dropped 20 points on Wednesday as Seattle beat the expansion Toronto Tempo 90-78 at home. Dominique Malonga posted 18 points and seven rebounds. Jade Melbourne filled the sheet with 16 points, seven assists and six boards. Awa Fam and Zia Cooke added 10 apiece off the bench.
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Playing for something other than the playoffs
Seattle managed that win without Natisha Hiedeman for a third consecutive game, the guard sidelined by a left shoulder problem. She averages 15.4 points and leads the team with 4.8 assists, so the absence bites.
Johnson framed what is left of the season plainly.
“We know we’re not playing to go to the playoffs,” she said. “It’s not no miracle playoff that we’re going to get into, but we know that we can get better.”
The number that stings most sits in the conference column. Seattle are 1-17 against Western opposition. That single win came on July 6, in Los Angeles, when Johnson scored 23 in an 82-64 result. The Sparks remain the only Western team the Storm have beaten all year, which cuts both ways today.
Los Angeles arrive with a closer
The Sparks (14-25) beat Washington 88-82 at home on Friday. Nneka Ogwumike, who has confirmed she retires at the end of the season, put up 24 points with five assists, four rebounds and four steals.
Rae Burrell supplied the finish, scoring 12 of her 15 points in the fourth quarter.
“Once we all were on the same page aggressively with the defense, I think we also made our adjustments,” Burrell said. “We made those adjustments in real time and then we were able to see those results.”
Two teams outside the playoff picture, then. One chasing a streak it has managed twice all year, the other trying to send Ogwumike out on something better than 14-25.
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